Thursday newspaper round-up: High streets, Grangemouth, Fed
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 20 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - The UK's high streets are expected to empty out at a faster pace this year as extra costs imposed on businesses by Rachel Reeves are blamed for shops closing and a slowdown in chain store openings. The rate of store closures is forecast to rise again as a result of the chancellor's tax-raising budget last October, after a slowdown to 10 a day last year from 13 a day in 2023, according to research. - Guardian
The UK's cybersecurity agency is urging organisations to guard their systems against quantum hackers by 2035, as the prospect of breakthroughs in powerful computing threaten digital encryption. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance recommending large entities including energy and transport providers introduce "post-quantum cryptography" in order to prevent quantum technology being deployed to break into their systems. - Guardian
Scotland's last remaining oil refinery could be used to turn pine trees into petrol under a £225m taxpayer-funded plan proposed by Ed Miliband. Under the scheme, timber harvested in Scotland would be taken to the site of the Grangemouth refinery to be "fermented" into bioethanol for blending into fuel, or used to produce chemicals and cosmetics. Grangemouth is scheduled to be shut down this summer by owners including Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a move expected to trigger the loss of 500 jobs at the plant and an estimated 2,500 more in related industries. - Telegraph
The Federal Reserve has cut its outlook for growth in the world's largest economy this year on the back of President Trump's tariff policies which are expected to push inflation higher, limiting scope for rate cuts. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Fed, which kept its benchmark borrowing costs unchanged in a range of 4.25-4.5 per cent, said yesterday that households and businesses are braced for higher inflation due to US trade levies, adding that survey respondents "are mentioning tariffs as a decisive factor". - The Times
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